


Here Comes the Fun Part

by revise_leviathan



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Gen, could probably be read as shippy from one side if you squint hard enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:41:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revise_leviathan/pseuds/revise_leviathan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dueling is fun, Yuya says. He should be smiling, Yuya says. Except the things that make Yuri smile aren't the things that make everyone else smile, and is it really a smile if it never reaches your eyes?</p>
<p>Response to the Arc-V 30 Day Challenge Day 8: Circus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here Comes the Fun Part

**Author's Note:**

> WELL THIS GOT DARK (though the idea I originally had was darker so uh--).
> 
> I really want Yuya to lose to Yuri (though presumably with some intervention that stops him from being carded/absorbed despite intentionally ambiguous ending here woot woot) so I was kind of thinking about things I'd want to see in that scenario and then this happened.

“ _Ladies and gentlemen_!”

It was a familiar phrase, and he shouted it just as joyously as usual, one-handed on the trapeze as he swung across the Athletic Circus field, the only advantage he needed. Normally he wouldn’t take it, normally he’d want an even game – but against Yuri, he’d felt, he needed the edge. He needed to show him he was wrong, that he’d hurt so many people, that dueling was _fun_ —

“Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, attack Yuri’s dragon! Spiralling Strike Burst!”

His Entermates had brought its Attack Points higher, much higher, and Yuri had nothing left on his field bar his own dragon. It was over. It had to be.

And then Yuri smiled, in that way that left his pink eyes dead.

“Trap, activate!”

From the Graveyard, of course. He should have expected it. All it did was negate the attack, but that was all it needed to do. With only monsters left on his field, Yuya was blown back from the swinging bar to slam into one of the tent posts, hard enough to rattle bones.

It was over. _It had to be._

“…I end my turn.”

Yuri stepped forward, with a flourish not from a solider but an entertainer of sorts, too. Purple, curving bangs bounced in the spotlights as he tipped his head, still smiling, still mocking.

Still not brightening his eyes.

“Hn, but you are _entertaining_ , Yuya. I’m having such _fun_! Isn’t that what you _wanted_?”

Yuya didn’t respond. He told himself it was because he hadn’t recovered from the impact. It wasn’t because he’d lost and he knew it, because he couldn’t _lose_ , not after he’d promised everyone he’d win against Yuri for them.

“My turn! Draw!”

Even as the Fusion Dragon swelled with power, screeching and increasing in size until it touched the roof and cracked the stands, he didn’t speak. Five thousand Attack Points to a meagre five hundred Life and a field of all too vulnerable entertainers facing it down.

_This can’t be right._

The shuddering, echoing screech of the dragon begged to differ.

“Attack Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!”

The order was a joyous shout, Yuri’s face a canvas of pleasure and satisfaction as his ace bore down on the field, crushing everything, dragging chunks of debris and shorn ropes and fabrics after it in its mad descent. Hysterical pride coloured his opponent’s words as, just before the final strike came, Yuri’s eyes met his crimson ones, and he smiled.

“An entertainer you might be. A _soldier_ , you are not. But then, what difference does it make?”

He felt something break as the Fusion Dragon smashed into the ground, tearing up concrete and Solid Vision alike, making his monsters wail as they vanished back into nothing.

Yuri was stepping across the rubble, and he could hear it, but he couldn’t see it. There was something red in his eyes, and all blinking it away did was give him a hazy, stained view upwards. Through the chunks of stone and some other things he couldn’t think to identify, a face looked down at him. His chest seized as a boot, sharp and disciplined, stomped down on the mass over it.

“Ah, you wanted me to _smile_ , right?”

Something split Yuri’s face from ear to ear, and that was not a smile, _that was not a smile_. But as he leant down to cup Yuya’s face almost delicately, there was an enjoyment in it like his own.

_Did I make you happy?_

He wasn’t sure if he’d said it or not, but Yuri’s eyelids fell in deep appreciation before flickering open again, and he brushed a thumb across Yuya’s cheek.

“I got to see you like _this_ , didn’t I?”

Yuya couldn’t tell if he was smiling or crying as he faded away.


End file.
